“PetsCANINE ETIQUETTEWhen guests bring a dog along, always serve your dog before theirs.”

“How do I look at her?"Mason laughs. "Like you're a starving dog and she's wearing a skirt made of meat.”

“I can’t tell you what to do. No one can. But as the mother of two children, I can tell you what most moms will: that mothering is absurdly hard and profoundly sweet. Like the best thing you ever did. Like if you think you want to have a baby, you probably should.I say this in spite of the fact that children are giant endless suck machines. They don’t give a whit if you need to sleep or eat or pee or get your work done or go out to a party naked and oiled up in a homemade Alice B. Toklas mask. They take everything. They will bring you the furthest edge of your personality and abso-fucking-lutely to your knees.They will also give you everything back. Not just all they take, but many of the things you lost before they came along as well.”

“I made it the mantra of those days; when I paused before yet another series of switchbacks or skidded down knee-jarring slopes, when patches of flesh peeled off my feet along with my socks, when I lay alone and lonely in my tent at night I asked, often out loud: Who is tougher than me?The answer was always the same, and even when I knew absolutely there was no way on this earth that it was true, I said it anyway: No one.”

“Forget diamonds or dogs—a girl or boy's best friend is always a high-powered weapon.”

“A dog cannot relate his autobiography; however, eloquently he may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were honest though poor.”

“She tried to think of what to say to make it all better again, or at least the way it was before she'd made her confession, though she didn't regret having confessed. Perhaps that was what had been wrong with her all along. Now that the lie wasn't between them anymore, maybe she could love him again.”